A game originally made by Bentosmile in the visual novel engine “Ren’py”, converted to flash by yours truly. The game has three different endings and it’s definitely worth to play through more than once.

Wow, I didnt even realize that the she was self mutilation. When i played it again, i got it! “We met when we were teenagers, SHE WRAPPED HERSELF AROUND MY ARM AND HAS BEEN THERE EVER SINCE” I cant believe i missed that. And then all the things she says. Love it!

HE (you) is the self mutilator. The girl is a personification of his need to cut himself. There’s no drugs – the nurse mentions that he got lucky and didn’t hit a nerve this time. Why the hell would you think that meant drugs?

Hi, this was a great game but I was curious as to how you converted the game into a flash file? I’m very interested in exporting my Ren’Py games as .swf files, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to convert them!

Ohh! Okay, I get it after the hospital part. (Walkthrough for hostpital)
*Let’s just stay in*
*I’m with you all the time*
*So everyday is equally special*
*Yes*
*Why are you here*
*Is it really that obvious*
*There’s no harm in it*
*Thinking about us*
*Get closer*
*Yes*

Wow great story
I only “got it” when I got to the hospital ending. At first I thought what a strange relationship!
Get the hospital ending by trying to be closer
Get another ending by keeping things the same
Get the positive ending by walking away and rejecting her completely.
Imo, The “fuzzing out” bit didn’t really fit in to the rest of the story.
Five stars! Want more story games like this. Reminded me of Braid.

If the girl was a metaphor for drugs then it seems unlikely that he would be in hospital because the nurse states “You didn’t hit any nerves or arteries,” suggesting that he injected incorrectly or cut himself. If we’re assuming that by drugs most of you mean heroin which is injected into the blood scream, only a first time user and a bit of an idiot would not know how to inject. It’s far more likely than he cut himself and therefore the nurse’s comment makes sense.

The girl is a metaphor for self-harm whom he is mentally dependent on. She implies that no one who knows him knows that “she” exists, as in no one has seen his scars. When they become “closer than ever before” he is cutting deeper than he has before. If it were drugs then it would mean he came closer to OD-ing than ever before; something you don’t walk out of a hospital from the next day.

Whether the guy’s addicted to drugs or self-mutilation is a bit moot. The point of the story is that he’s addicted and dependent on that addiction. Which of the two it is doesn’t really matter as much as how addiction itself is affecting the main character.

It seems as if the creator of this game wrote her as a metaphor for self-harm; the first time I played, I thought it was about drugs, but about three plays later when I read the intro part about his arm, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

But like SixFlagsSlave said, whether you want to see her as drugs or self harm, it’s really irrelevant. Addiction is addiction. I struggled with self harm for many years, so this game really hit close to home, and that’s why, after I understood, I didn’t read her as a drug addiction.

It does seem as though it’s self mutilation, but it could be drugs as well. It could even be seen as an eating disorder. Although that doesn’t fit in with what the nurse says in the hospital, it can be seen as each persons own personal struggle of addiction, no matter what form it is. No matter what, it’s an amazing way to look at it. Really opens your eyes.

[...] You will have to play through Air Pressure – a Flash port of an interactive novel by Bentosmile – more than once to truly understand the characters and themes in this game. And even then you may need some time to think on it. You might, for example, simply see the game as a study of a relationship breaking down. Or, alternatively, you could argue that the girl in the game is a metaphor for some kind of addiction. Or you might… That’s the beauty of the game – there is so much you can read into its multiple stories, and each person will probably draw their own unique conclusions. You can give it a try here. [...]

The first time I played it I got the *spoiler* ‘let’s keep things the way they are’ ending and at first thougth she was just imaginairy.
Only the second time did I get that she was a personifaction for automutulation.
This might well be the most intruiging game I’ve ever played.

The girl is a representation of ANY bad addiction from drug abuse to self harm. She’s always there for him and him alone. In the dialogue, the guy states that he has no other friends except for her, which means all his previous friends left after they either discovered the addiction or he was too obsessed with her to do anything with them.

The fuzz is the addiction about to dissipate but only the victim can make that decision. It’s represents what could’ve been if the girl doesn’t leave.

Each of the endings has a meaning. The hospital ending is when the person goes too far with the addiction and cranks it up to a new level. A parasitic relationship.

The middle ground. The person learns to live and cope with the addiction easily. It’s there but he can live with it well. It represents the fact that many people are actually addicts but choose this path to keep doing the addiction while keeping it under control. Both a symbiotic relationship and mutual relationship.

The free road. The person breaks the addiction. At first, it seems near impossible as the person has gotten so close to her(the addiction). But if the person stands up to her(the addiction), she reveals that she’s scared to leave and all along, it was just fear and the attachment to her that kept her there for so long. It’s probably the best of the 3 endings but the most painful at the beginning.

[...] writeup assumes that you have played the game, which can be found over at Raitendo, here (click on past the jump to see the link). I highly suggest you do so prior to reading this, as not only does it take no more than about [...]

what a wonderful game <3 i also thought *spoiler*
that the ‘girl’ was his drug addiction (although the first ending I got led me to mental illness) but i think the best thing about this game is that it could be seen in many ways.
Just like good poetry, this game is beautiful because as soon as you play it, it belongs to you and you can interpret it how you like

It’s about self mutilation. Everyone has already commented on how the arm and hospitalization aspect of the text supports this, but also notice when she starts to “fizzle” out; it’s like someone is violently slashing chunks and bits out of her.

I think this game can be interpreted in a few ways. I personally gathered her as being Depression. Lack of friendship, wanting to stay in, head pressure, avoidance, fear, self mutilation as a way of becoming closer….It all points that she is depression to me.

For everyone saying that it was self-mutilation and not heroin, I honestly disagree with you. Yes, I can see your points, but really, I think it makes more sense if she was heroin.
When he says he wants to “be closer” I took it has him wanting to try a higher dose than his usual. And with the hospital ending, when the nurse said “You’re lucky you didn’t hit a vein,” yes, she could have been referring to self-mutilation. However, as a recovered self-mutilator myself and knowing a few people who are still auto-mutilators, I know nurses in a hospital would not have such a look or be as rough. Most know you’re in there for a reason. However, they would look that way at a drug user. (Speaking from first- and second-hand accounts
Second, he thinks in response, “I wouldn’t do that, I know better.” (Or something of the sort) As several people have stated, a heroin user knows how to inject. Therefore, his response is totally accurate.
I can see both aspects, but, honestly, I believe the heroin addiction makes more sense.
In the end, it’s the meaning that counts, though.
Beautiful game.

Yes..I understand the idea that she could be heroin..However, when you are injecting you are doing so intravenously…The user injects directly into the blood stream…the use of a tourniquet is used (just like when donating or giving a blood sample) to make the veins swell so as to pick the best vein possible. For the nurse to say “You’re lucky you didn’t hit a vein” leads me to believe it is cutting (hence “I’m not that stupid” he wasn’t cutting to commit suicide, merely to become closer and wanting more with Depression..who I think the girl portrays) Those who inject heroin are doing so to get it directly into the bloodstream..there is no other way then injecting directly into your veins. That is why many heroin users end up having collapsed veins which cause the bruised appearance…And heavy abusers often have the preferred site’s limb become infected and amputation is necessary. Take the movie Requiem for a Dream, this movie is especially sad because of the accuracy of the downfall caused by abusing drugs.

Attention,
To all who play this game and think this is a boy girl thing…
That is not at all true. This is a allegory towards any kind of addiction,including non drug influences. What it means, is that depend on nothing, learn to live life the hard way, like a truly intelligent human, the greatest of God’s Creation.
Sincerely,
The Wise One

I’m pretty confused. At first I thought it was just a really weird relationship, then I thought he was self-harming, then I thought it might be drugs, and now I am way too confused. Why did she keep fuzzing out? Because she wasn’t real? Was he having hallucinations because of the drugs, or did he have some weird mental illness from the start? Did the girl represent depression? And when he gave into her, he couldn’t stop himself from hurting himself?

Its either a drug problem OR a self-harming one. For one of them she says if they ever find out about her it would be an embarrassment and they would hate them. That SHES the reason why HES not a boring dull person. The other one is him either hitting the wrong part while using OR going to deep and luckily not hitting anything fatal. The last is him not being able to get rid of her. Hes stuck with his PROBLEM but he wont ever be sad just never happy enough

i played it a few times, trying to get the different endings, thinking it was about drug use. when i got to the one where he was in to hospital, i almost lost my breath. i self-harmed for over a year and still occasionally do, and this just made me think a hell of a lot differently. great game.

Got all 3 endings in 3 different plays. Understood the metaphor halfway through the 2nd playthrough. What a fantastic game, message, and delivery. Also I WILL find a way to get this song; it’s amazing.

I figured it out on the first try because i got to the hospital scene and as someone who was addicted to self harm it was scarily accurate. The way she says your worthless and boring without me really struck a chord. No matter this game is brilliant and i suggest you get to all the endings.

I agree with Luke (and everybody else (mostly)). I think you don’t have to try to look so hard. It could be about any harmful dependency that you can relate to. For me, it wasn’t self-harm or drugs but it’s heartbreak in a cold lifeless way. It’s when you know neither of us are happy. But you know you’ll never do anything about it because you do love her with everything you have. You say “what could be better?” but you know you’d be happier anywhere but here. Anyway, that’s how I relate to it. I feel like I’ve had all those thoughts cross my mind before. This was a beautiful way to choose every option. Every ending was so beautiful and so sad. She broke up with me and I’m glad it happened that way-I could never have done it, but now I might move on to new experiences and more happiness. But not a day goes by that I don’t think of her.

I come back here every once in a while. It makes me sad. I played this once, when I was 12. I didn’t understand, I thought it was meaningless. Now I self harm sometimes multiple times a day. I was so innocent, but now I feel like I have the whole world’s weight on my shoulders. I miss those times, when I thought that cutting was disgusting, and had no clue what the point was. I miss the days when I had never even met Leigh, because once I met her, I was hooked forever.

This game can be interrperted in any way. For me, it was cutting. It started on my left arm, when I was 12,I think I need it to just get hrough the day, becuase I’m already so dependent on it. I have to fight. But, I think I’m winning this fight.

Holy crap this game. This is a serious game. Holy crap. Amazing. I love how everyone can take something from it depending on their own lives. Some could say drugs if they or someone they know uses, some could say self-harm depending on if they do so or know someone who does. It’s all relative and it’s beautiful.

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